Origami Vase - Part 1 of 2

I just finished making this one. Afterwards, I realized that I've done it before, but it's been quite a while. I don't know that it turned out well enough to share a picture of it though.

Rack 'n' Roll

This is the server cluster for Wolfram Alpha going up.

Bull in supermarket (unedited CCTV), Cummins SuperValu in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo

Bull in supermarket (unedited CCTV), Cummins SuperValu in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

Memories

I've been going through a great many papers and such that have managed to tag along with me through more than a few moves, and in the process, I keep coming across old photo CDs. I'm starting to be very appreciative of the benefits of having had a long-term , archivist mindset since early in my life; the negatives for many of these photos would never have survived the rough treatment that many of the CDs seem to have endured -- in fact, most of them seem to be outright lost. So, I'm finally taking the time to upload some of them to Flickr. In this case, it's the set of pictures I made at the Ingomar Attendance Center Homecoming in 2000. I'll probably be pushing more up before I call it a night, but I don't know that any of the others I find will be nearly as representative of the value I have rediscovered than these. Besides, what's likely to produce better potential blackmail material than this? (Wait! That is I!)

Protest New Zealand

Windows 7

I’ve been using Windows 7 for a few hours now, and I’m posting this via Windows Live Writer on Windows 7. It’s impressive. It looks much cleaner than Vista, seems much more responsive than even the XP install I have been using, and the features – however few they may be – that have been added are actually worthwhile. I still need to look at how well it works with all of the software I use in my XP VM normally before I make any final judgments. Although, I do feel I could actually recommend this to people, despite my predilection for non-Microsoft products.

Clean Coal: This Is Reality

Fun With Fire

The following videos are from Friday Night Fun with some friends and fire. They show how it started and how it ended -- sort of.... Just watch them, and let me know what you think... Of my sanity and theirs. I have more extraneous footage, but I need to snip off a bit if I'm to post it via YouTube!.

Anonymous on FOX11

This is perfect proof of why the Old Media in Meatspace just don't get what's going on with the Internet. No one can possibly attack an "organization" that is effectively an anarchic hive mind. So, what's the count up to now? The New York Times, Oprah, and now a Fox affilite... Any more out there I haven't heard of yet?

Fire at Applebee’s

I sometimes wonder if perhaps drunkenness might be contagious. This was at the end of a long night at Applebee’s with a couple of my friends. None of us had any alcohol that night, and yet, at least one of us was acting plastered. It’s worth noting thought that he is from a family on non-smokers, so the debacle with the smoker’s outpost is at least partially understandable.

The napkin he was attempting to incinerate was soaked in oil lifted from the dynamite sauce that had come with our dinner. It’s a chili/lime sauce that is supposed to be similar to a mayonnaise, but sometimes the emulsion does not hold, leaving the unfortunate diner with a puddle of greasy globs of goo.

Musing About Medicine

Firstly, I will admit that this is an ad for an alternative-medicine book, but the numbers are mostly correct. Also, I've seen much of this first hand in my own health and healthcare. I have been on Norvasc to control my hypertension for some time now. It lost it's patent protection a few years ago, leading to the introduction of reasonably priced generics. To combat this, Pfizer introduced a combined drug called Caduet that includes both amlodipine (a.k.a. Norvasc) and a still-patented statin drug, Lipitor. This has led many doctors to prescribe Caduet instead of amlodipine and a statin separately, thereby preventing patients from having access to generics. Also, many doctors are prescribing Caduet as a preventative, despite the increase in cost and associated risks of statins. I know this was the case with my healthcare; I was prescribed Caduet despite not having any indications for statin use. Also, with my insurance, Caduet cost me over $70.00 USD. Whereas, the brand-name Norvasc cost about $20.00 USD. The real shock came when I was finally able to switch to generic amlodipine: $5.00 USD! All of this in the name of profit, not healthcare.